The Raven

"The Raven" is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in
January 1845. It is often noted for its musicality, stylized language,
andsupernatural atmosphere. It tells of a talking raven's mysterious visit to a
distraught lover, tracing the man's slow descent into madness. The lover, often
identified as being a student, is lamenting the loss of his love, Lenore. Sitting on a bust
of Pallas, the raven seems to further instigate his distress with its constant repetition
of the word "Nevermore". The poem makes use of a number
of folk and classical references.
Poe claimed to have written the poem very logically and methodically, intending to
create a poem that would appeal to both critical and popular tastes, as he explained in
his 1846 follow-up essay "The Philosophy of Composition". The poem was inspired in
part by a talking raven in the novel Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of
'Eighty byCharles Dickens. Poe borrows the complex rhythm and meter of Elizabeth
Barrett's poem "Lady Geraldine's Courtship", and makes use of internal rhyme as well
as alliteration throughout.
"The Raven" was first attributed to Poe in print in the New York Evening Mirror on
January 29, 1845. Its publication made Poe widely popular in his lifetime, though it did
not bring him much financial success. Soon reprinted, parodied, and illustrated, critical
opinion is divided as to the poem's status, though it remains one of the most famous
poems ever written.

Synopsis - "The Raven" follows an unnamed narrator who sits reading "forgotten lore"
as a method to forget the loss of his love, Lenore. A "rapping at [his] chamber
door"reveals nothing, but excites his soul to "burning". A similar rapping, slightly
louder, is heard at his window. When he goes to investigate, a raven steps into his
chamber. Paying no attention to the man, the raven perches on a bust of Pallas.
Amused by the raven's comically serious disposition, the man demands that the bird
tell him its name. The raven's only answer is "Nevermore". The narrator is surprised
that the raven can talk, though it says nothing further. The narrator remarks to himself
that his "friend" the raven will soon fly out of his life, just as "other friends have flown
before" along with his previous hopes. As if answering, the raven responds again with
"Nevermore". The narrator reasons that the bird learned the word "Nevermore" from
some "unhappy master" and that it is the only word it knows.
Even so, the narrator pulls his chair directly in front of the raven, determined to learn
more about it. He thinks for a moment, not saying anything, but his mind wanders
back to his lost Lenore. He thinks the air grows denser and feels the presence of
angels. Confused by the association of the angels with the bird, the narrator becomes
angry, calling the raven a "thing of evil" and a "prophet". As he yells at the raven it
only responds, "Nevermore". Finally, he asks the raven whether he will be reunited
with Lenore in Heaven. When the raven responds with its typical "Nevermore", he
shrieks and commands the raven to return to the "Plutonian shore", though it never
moves. Presumably at the time of the poem's recitation by the narrator, the raven "still
is sitting" on the bust of Pallas. The narrator's final admission is that his soul is trapped
beneath the raven's shadow and shall be lifted "Nevermore".

Analysis - Poe wrote the poem as a narrative, without intentionally creating

an allegory or falling into didacticism. The main theme of the poem is one of undying
devotion. The narrator experiences a perverse conflictbetween desire to forget and
desire to remember. He seems to get some pleasure from focusing on loss. The
narrator assumes that the word "Nevermore" is the raven's "only stock and store",
and, yet, he continues to ask it questions, knowing what the answer will be. His
questions, then, are purposely self-deprecating and further incite his feelings of
loss. Poe leaves it unclear if the raven actually knows what it is saying or if it really
intends to cause a reaction in the poem's narrator. The narrator begins as weak and
weary, becomes regretful and grief-stricken, before passing into a frenzy and, finally,
madness. Christopher F. S. Maligec suggests the poem is a type
of elegiac paraclausithyron, an ancient Greek and Roman poetic form consisting of the
lament of an excluded, locked-out lover at the sealed door of his beloved.

Allusion - Poe says that the narrator is a young scholar. Though this is not explicitly
stated in the poem, it is mentioned in "The Philosophy of Composition". It is also
suggested by the narrator reading books of "lore" as well as by the bust of Pallas
Athena, goddess of wisdom.
He is reading "many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore". Similar to the
studies suggested in Poe's short story "Ligeia", this lore may be about the occult or
black magic. This is also emphasized in the author's choice to set the poem in
December, a month which is traditionally associated with the forces of darkness. The
use of the raven — the "devil bird" — also suggests this. This devil image is
emphasized by the narrator's belief that the raven is "from the Night's Plutonian
shore", or a messenger from the afterlife, referring to Pluto, the Roman god of
the underworld (also known as Hades in Greek mythology).
Poe chose a raven as the central symbol in the story because he wanted a "non-
reasoning" creature capable of speech. He decided on a raven, which he considered
"equally capable of speech" as a parrot, because it matched the intended tone of the
poem. Poe said the raven is meant to symbolize "Mournful and Never-ending
Remembrance". He was also inspired by Grip, the raven in Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of
the Riots of 'Eighty by Charles Dickens. One scene in particular bears a resemblance to
"The Raven": at the end of the fifth chapter of Dickens's novel, Grip makes a noise and
someone says, "What was that – him tapping at the door?" The response is, "'Tis
someone knocking softly at the shutter." Dickens's raven could speak many words and
had many comic turns, including the popping of a champagne cork, but Poe
emphasized the bird's more dramatic qualities. Poe had written a review of Barnaby
Rudge for Graham's Magazine saying, among other things, that the raven should have
served a more symbolic, prophetic purpose. The similarity did not go unnoticed: James
Russell Lowell in his A Fable for Critics wrote the verse, "Here comes Poe with his
raven, like Barnaby Rudge / Three-fifths of him genius and two-fifths sheer fudge."
Poe may also have been drawing upon various references to ravens
in mythology and folklore. In Norse mythology, Odin possessed two ravens
named Huginn and Muninn, representing thought and memory. The raven also gets a
reputation as a bird of ill omen in the story of Genesis. According
to Hebrew folklore, Noah sends a white raven to check conditions while on the ark. It
learns that the floodwaters are beginning to dissipate, but it does not immediately
return with the news. It is punished by being turned black and being forced to feed
on carrion forever. In Ovid's Metamorphoses, a raven also begins as white
before Apollo punishes it by turning it black for delivering a message of a lover's
unfaithfulness. The raven's role as a messenger in Poe's poem may draw from those
stories.
Poe also mentions the Balm of Gilead, a reference to the Book of Jeremiah (8:22) in
the Bible: "Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the
health of the daughter of my people recovered?" In that context, the Balm of Gilead is
a resin used for medicinal purposes (suggesting, perhaps, that the narrator needs to
be healed after the loss of Lenore). He also refers to "Aidenn", another word for
the Garden of Eden, though Poe uses it to ask if Lenore has been accepted
into Heaven. At another point, the narrator imagines that Seraphim (a type of angel)
have entered the room. The narrator thinks they are trying to take his memories of
Lenore away from him using nepenthe, a drug mentioned in Homer's Odyssey to
induce forgetfulness.

Literary Elements in "The Raven"

Stanza 1
“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary…” (Internal Rhyme)
“…while I pondered, weak and weary…” (Alliteration)
“While I nodded, nearly napping…” (Alliteration)
“While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping…” (Internal Rhyme)
“…gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.” (Repetition)
"From my books surcease of sorrow- sorrow for the lost Lenore" : (Repetition)
“chamber door” and “nothing more” (Refrain)
"For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore" : (Imagery)
"And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain" : (Imagery)
Stanza 2
“Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December…” (Internal Rhyme)
“Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow…” (Internal Rhyme)
“From my books surcease of sorrow…” (Alliteration)
“From my books surcease of sorrow- sorrow…” (Repetition)
“For the rare and radiant maiden...” (Alliteration)
Stanza 3
“Thrilled me- filled me with fantastic terrors…” (Internal Rhyme)
“Tis some visitor entreating entrance …” (Alliteration)
“Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door- Some late visitor entreating
entrance at my chamber door…” (Repetition)
Stanza 4
“Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer…” (Internal Rhyme)
“But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping…” (Internal Rhyme)
“you came tapping, tapping at my…” (Repetition)
Stanza 5
" Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there wondering fearing" "But the
silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token" (Internal Rhyme)
" echo" (Onomatopoeia)
" nothing more" (Refrain)
Stanza 6
"Back into chamber turning, all my soul within burning" (Internal Rhyme)
" tapping" (Onomatopoeia)
" nothing more" (Refrain)
Stanza 7
"Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter" (Internal Rhyme)
" Perched above my chamber door perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my
chamber door" (Repetition)
" lord and lady" (Alliteration)
" nothing more" (Refrain)

Glossary
1. ember- the smoldering remains of a fire
2. surcease- to come to an end
3. entreating- to make an earnest request
4. implore- to call or pray earnestly
5. rapping- to make a short sharp sound
6. lattice- a window or structure of crossed wood or metal strips
7. flirt- to move in a jerky manner
8. flutter- to move with quick or wavering motions
9. obeisance- a movement of the body made in token of respect or submission
“Bow”
10. mien- air or bearing especially as expressive of attitude or personality
11. bust- a sculptured representation of the upper part of the human figure including
the head and neck and usually part of the shoulders and breast
12. paellas- the goddess of wisdom
13. beguile- to lead by deception
14. decorum- propriety and good taste in conduct or appearance
15. countenance- bearing or expression that offers approval or sanction
16. shorn- to cut with something sharp
17. plutonian- of, relating to, or characteristic of Pluto or the lower world
18. discourse- the capacity of orderly thought or procedure
19. relevancy- relation to the matter at hand
20. ominous- implies having a menacing, alarming character foreshadowing evil or
disaster